PhD defence Elke Claes
Elke Claes will defend her PhD thesis on Wednesday, 10 December 2025, at 13:00 hours at the Auditorium of the Maastricht University - Minderbroedersberg 4-6, Maastricht
“Basic Skills”
Recent studies, such as PISA, show that one third of Dutch 15-year-olds are insufficiently literate and a quarter are insufficiently numerate, suggesting that many may struggle to function effectively in society. This is concerning, all the more because basic skills are important for the development of human capital and, consequently, for economic growth. This dissertation comprises four empirical chapters aimed at deepening our knowledge of basic skills. The first part explores how early basic skills relate to life satisfaction in adulthood. The second part includes two chapters focused on how basic skills develop during primary education, specifically examining the persistence of basic skill levels, the development of achievement gaps related to parental education, sex, and migration background, and the interplay between varying skills. The third part investigates the extent to which temperature influences student performance.
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Inge de Wolf, Prof. Dr. Bart Golsteyn
Co-supervisor: Dr. Suzanne de Leeuw
Keywords: Skills, Education
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